Bunny DOUBT
by Koulin
Summary: Locked up in somewhere unknown, the Smashers are forced to play a death game: Rabbit Doubt. Among the innocent is a wolf in rabbit's clothing...time is running out as the Smashers gets murdered one by one...Quickly find the lying wolf...or it's game over.
1. Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTE (please read):

This story WILL most likely be discontinued. I wrote this a year ago, and it had been sitting uselessly in my hard drive taking up space so I might as well post it up here. Keep in mind that the grammar in there is horrible (lol) with tons of run-ons but I won't bother to make corrections. But still, I will be happy if you enjoy this story nevertheless....and reviews are awesome. :)

Thanks!

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**From this line onwards, including the following chapters, ALL words were written on Spring 2008.**

Edit: At that time only 12 chapters of DOUBT were released, though it finally ended around half a year ago.

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**Bunny DOUBT**

I would appreciate it if you review! Thanks!

My first attempt at Super Smash Bro Brawl/Melee fan fiction. Oh my, hope this turns out well.

**Something extremely important **(at least to me): go to my profile page. You'll see a poll at the top. Please vote in it. HOWEVER, if you are a person that does not read or watch Japanese comics and cartoons please disregard this message and live on with your lives, Thanks lmao.

Disclaimer: SSBB © Nintendo, DOUBT © Tonogai Yoshiki, story © me. :D

He he, this time's disclaimer will be slightly different. SSBB belongs to Nintendo as usual, PLUS, **the general concept of this story is based on the soon-to-be famous serial manga**— **DOUBT**. This masterpiece is surely something out of the ordinary.

DOUBT is described as something similar to the movie Saw (Chainsaw Massacre), both psychologically horrifying and packed with never-ending suspense. If you ever feel interested, feel free to check out these links (delete all spaces). The art and scanslation are high quality. Currently 12 chapters are released.

http :/ /ww . com/ series. html?id =18068

-This link is the summary of DOUBT.

http :// www. onemanga. com/ Doubt/

-...And this link is directed to an online-reading site.

**CAUTION:** If you're not so fond of graphical blood and gore, I advice you not to touch the second link lol.

Phase 1: Prologue

"Oh, damn!"

Samus' soft curse was completely drowned out when a massive explosion erupted somewhere to her right. She felt her whole body being tremendously shaken as the heat and smoke spiraled off into the air, taking broken wood pieces and debris along with them. The hunter choked as she was blasted unceremoniously off the stage, but managed to cling on just in time by grab-holding the metallic edge of a floating platform. Her fingers dug firmly onto the surface while the force of the explosion roared passed her ear, as though eager to throw her off the stage again.

A shadow flew pass, right above her, and Samus lifted her head up, her eyes tracing Yoshi's gradually disappearing figure as he flew off helplessly into the distance.

Seeing this, Samus allowed herself a smile as she climbed back to safety, brushing off dirt and dust as she did so.

Well, it was Yoshi's fault anyways; he was the one who accidentally triggered the Blast Box as he tried to attack Lucas with his flames. Unfortunately for Samus, she was dropping down, after her second jump, from the air near the crate, and was caught instantly among the erupting chaos.

Samus shook her head. Next time, she should be more observant to things happening around her.

Pit the angel had managed to avoid the worst of the destruction, beating his wings rhythmically ten feet in the air while observing the remaining Smashers from above: Samus and Lucas were recovering, but Yoshi was nowhere to be seen; his stocks had probably run out.

Suddenly, something glinted out of the corner of Pit's eye. He snapped his head around and his heart skipped a beat: the Smash Ball!

Natural instinct took over his body as the boy spread his beautiful wings wide and rocketed towards the glowing ball. Apparently Samus and Lucas noticed it too, for they were seen speeding from ledge to ledge, trying their hardest to get a hold of the sphere.

Finally, with a small cry, Lucas launched himself away from the ground and did a footstool jump on Samus. Shocked, Samus was knocked slightly from the powerful impact when Lucas' foot made contact with her armored head. The boost sent Lucas leaping way higher than usual, the Smash Ball advancing closer and closer towards the boy with desperately outstretched hands. Lucas' determination had only made Pit soar faster towards his objective, his wings flapping furiously through the howling wind.

Pit and Lucas were neck-in-neck upon hitting the Smash Ball when something gave out an electrical spark and everything went black.

"...What? Hey!" Through the sea of blackness, Pit could hear Lucas exclaim in alarm, highly aware that something out of the ordinary had happened.

Suddenly Samus realized that they were no longer standing on solid ground, instead, the three of them were floating aimlessly through a sheet of nothingness.

"Did something malfunction?" Pit called over to where he assumed Samus and Lucas were. He could hear Samus call back, "There may be a glitch concerning this particular stage. Don't worry, this sort of thing happened before."

There was a series of sandy, crackling noises coming from particularly nowhere, and a few seconds later, the trusty voice of Mario vibrated around the area, "Sorry for the malfunction-a, it seems-a that the wires of the control-a room got a little-a tempered with. I'll-a teleport-a you guys out right-a now."

After a click was heard, indicating that the microphone was turned off, the three Smashers felt a sucking force behind them and were soon teleported back to the grounds.

"Whew, glad we weren't stuck in_ that_ kind of place," Lucas sighed in relief the moment their feet hit solid ground, "Seriously, it creeps people out."

"Don't worry," Samus said as the three of them proceeded toward the control room, "Every time this happens they are always able to fix it, although," she shook her head and chuckled a little, "It does feel rather unnerving, doesn't it?"

Pit's eyes lit up and darted across the hall towards the control room, where Yoshi was coming out from, looking rather worried, "Hey, Yoshi! _Yoshi_!" The dino turned around and waved, and what supposed to be a very relieved smile was etched across his face.

"Oh, I'm really glad you guys are okay," The red-booted dinosaur exclaimed, observing each of them in turn before beckoning them into the room. The control centre wasn't huge, just enough room to fit in every single buttons and levers necessary for the operation of the battle stages. The metallic feel of this area was accompanied by flashing lights, ticking sounds of various meters and, in this case, fuel-smelling smoke and sparks.

There was a hissing noise coming from their left and Lucas turned his head only to see Mario kneeling in front of a certain machine— which was smoking and wheezing pretty badly— and performing the maintenance only a professional plumber could do (if that made sense at all).

"Mario, what exactly happened?" Samus stepped forward, positioning herself in front of the working plumber. Yoshi cut in before Mario could lift his head and answer, "he said over-heating is happening a lot lately. I also recall that this particular incident happened during a brawl between Marth and Fox." He then shook his head disapprovingly, "I personally think that we should renew our facilities. Master Hand once said that these had been used for as long as he could remember, and never were they renewed."

"I agree-a as well-a," Mario replied, hopping back up to his feet, waving around in the air to get rid of the smoke drifting around him, "Though the sad thing is that-a, ordering new ones-a cost a lot of money, because these things-a aren't cheap at all."

Pit shrugged and smiled as he surveyed the activated machines, "Haha, so this is probably why Master Hand is so strongly against this idea."

"Humph, well-a, if he wants to-a earn more money, the only way-a is to improve these facilities so as to keep-a the tournament going," huffed Mario as he shooed the Smashers out of the control room, "Now you just-a leave this to me and go, all of this mess will-a be fixed in no time-a...but of course, these things-a won't stay functional forever..."

Judging by the tone of the plumber, he was clearly frustrated with Master Hand's lack of generosity. But when the door of the control room slammed shut with a bang, leaving the four Smashers out there in the lonely hallway, they couldn't help but express a chuckle.

Just leave it to Mario and everything would be all right. For some reason, he seemed to be the only one who holds the unofficial authority to negotiate with the over-sized gloved hand, whose lofty personality was perhaps what made him so unargumentive around the Smash Mansion. He always won with no exceptions (simply because everyone was too fed up and tired to actually continue the pointless arguments).

Perhaps the Italian plumber would soon be a democratic symbol, and representative, among the Smashers. And when he did, Samus would go out of her way and throw a party.

-------------------------------- -------------------------------- ------------------------------- ------

It was a beautiful day. The clouds had somehow parted after the dreadful storm last night and the sun shined like a ball of magnificent light around noon, causing the water droplets on the still-wet grass to appear like pieces of clear crystals on the green, feathery earth. Birds of all sorts flew around the mansion, enjoying themselves as they soared gracefully through the calming winds.

Seeing that it was a good day, the group of young Smashers decided to head out to the grassy field in front of the mansion and play. Ike, who was situated on the main balcony of the mansion, watched the children come out from the front doors and into the natured environment.

His eyes were focused on little Toon Link as the Hylian threw a ball towards the Ice Climbers. Apparently the twins missed, for the ball bounced once onto the grass and Ness ran forward to kick it. The object flew all the way into the distance, landing lightly a few yards before the big main gate of the Smash mansion.

Ike heard Diddy Kong produced a sound similar to a squeal and pounced towards the faraway ball. The other children gave out an excited yell and ending up racing each other towards the entrance, laughing loudly along the way.

Perhaps it was the refreshing weather and the cheery mood that was lingering around the mansion, for Ike smiled for the first time in days. It was a small smile, yet it expressed the warm happiness within his supposedly serious self. The young man closed his eyes as he leaned towards the stone railings, permitting only his ears to absorb everything around him.

He could hear the peaceful whispers of the winds, as well as the gentle shuffle of ripe green leaves blooming on trees, and the echoic laugher of the children playing on God's blessed earth...

How nostalgic.

He wished that he could remain like this for eternity, to not see, but to hear the lives of every being enjoying their existence in a land like Utopia. He could almost hear the music of the flute singing with the wind, could almost relive the moment in which he and his horse galloped through the wilderness during the blazing sunset...far away from the castle...far away from everything—

His eyes snapped open.

Lucario was standing somewhere beside him, also glancing out into the clear blue sky. Ike looked at the Egyptian cat-like Pokemon, wondering about his stillness while the beautiful, silk blue fur on his skin rippled slightly with the wind.

As though sensing that he was being watched, Lucario shifted his now golden eyes towards Ike, who responded, "...Lucario."

The Pokemon gave a small nod, and then turned his attention back to the sky. A few seconds later his eyes narrowed, causing Ike to feel somewhat cautious.

"Is something the matter?" he asked, also glancing into the horizon, trying to see something that only the Pokemon could. Once again the golden pupils pierced the young swordsman.

"I've been...uneasy since darkness lifted," Ike rarely heard Lucario speak, but the Pokemon's serious voice wasn't unfamiliar to him, "I was pondering...why such good weather?"

"Good weather always comes after a thunderstorm," Ike tried to reason with him, indicating that the Pokemon was just being too superstitious.

"But in this case, dark clouds will soon come after the short emergence of the sun," The blue-furred Pokemon replied, and his mouth curved ever so slightly into something like a smile, "Humans like you should observe more often in situations like this."

Although Ike was slightly annoyed by the Pokemon's supposedly mocking tone, he thought better about retorting and decided to go with the flow instead. He turned fully to face Lucario, and noticed that his golden eyes, which were locked firmly on the distant horizon, were glowing as bright as ever.

Something was definitely disturbing him.

"Do not enjoy yourself too much under such good weather. Do not appreciate it...do not even miss it...but prepare yourself for impending danger..." his golden eyes were now shining like a sun itself, blazing hot and bright, "...the heaven you are enjoying right now is nothing but an illusion...to soften you up, causing you to drop your guard so that when real peril pierces through humanity...none will be prepared enough to survive."

The wind and sunshine was still among the air, the birds were chirping a cheerful song as they spiraled through their freedom, and Ike could still hear the children's screams and laugher, yet he took none of these in. He didn't know what to reply to the Pokemon, for every part of him seemed uncertain, as though reality wasn't reality anymore, as though everything that he had once known was slowly dissolving into nonexistence.

The Pokemon was glaring at the sky, but his eyes were fading slowly back to their normal shade of dark wine. Finally, Ike had managed to find his voice, "...Are you certain?"

Lucario gave him a 'what do you think?' look, and Ike furrowed his brows. "How can you tell such things?"

"It has been haunting the night recently, driving me quite sleepless," Lucario crossed his arms in front of his white furred chest, "I know something is not right. This weather doesn't look right. We should stand on guard."

"Have your dreams been foreshadowing you?" Ike was curious enough to ask. Suddenly, the Pokemon turned his fullest to face the young man, and his blood-red glare looked rather intimidating,

"_There will be a game_. Those who are easily pulled by the strings, like a limp, lifeless puppet, will be the first ones to be eliminated."

"For the greater good, I am going to report this," Lucario said this as his departing sentence and left Ike standing on the balcony, quite alone.

-------------------------- --------------------- --------------------------- --------------------- -----

Phew, prologue done here. I seriously think that the first scene sucked ass, because I was having this annoying writer's block (more like sentence-structure block) when I was writing it. Every sentence that I typed out didn't sound right, and it wasn't so flawless either.

Strangely enough, when I poof-read it, it sounded slightly better.

Review and tell me what you think!!


	2. Phase 2: Foreshadowed

I did not really enjoy Snake's voice acting lol. Sounded too husky and raspy as though he had sported a cold that he would never recover from. D:

EDIT: My hand is aching from playing Minesweeper for too long lol, so don't blame me if there are too many typos. I'm pissed because I couldn't beat my previous high score in expert level.

Phase 2: foreshadowed

Snake sworn that if this got any scarier he would have screamed. But luckily he didn't, and the mercenary sighed mentally, yet unable to do so physically for he was panting like a person that had run with the speed of 100 kilometers per hour.

"...Shit."

Snake grinded his teeth as he ran a hand over his hair, which felt as though a waterfall had crashed on it; he was sweating like he had never sweated before. It had been a minute later when he finally realized that his arms and legs were trembling as well.

A man like himself,_ trembling_? Unthinkable. But reality forced Snake to believe the truth as he sat up on his bed, fingers digging onto the mattress with such force that it was a miracle it wasn't pierced through.

It had been a long time since he had a nightmare. As a matter of fact, the mercenary couldn't even recall ever having one ever since he had decided to become what he was today.

He knew dignity meant a lot to him, but he had finally lost to fear, and admit that the nightmare he just had, had certainly freaked the hell out of him.

"Shit, _dammit_!"

Feeling furious with himself, Snake got up from his bed, allowing a waft of cold air to attack his skin. It felt icy, especially when he was sweating furiously all over. When he felt that something wasn't right about the coldness he turned his head towards his window and discovered that he had left it open through the night.

How disappointing. Previously Snake had assumed the night to be a peaceful one, but now, a storm was evidently raging outside. Rain was needling down, hard, onto the earth so that Snake could even hear the loud splattering sounds coming from the mansion's exterior. Occasionally there would be a flash of light and his room would be illuminated for a second, followed by a huge crack of ear-deafening thunder which literally shook the whole Smash mansion, regardless of its size.

This particular storm did not improve his mood of course, and the mercenary slumped frustratingly towards the window and slammed it shut. There was a small puddle of water on the floor but he was feeling too irritated to clean it off.

Snake then snatched up his digital watch and blinked at the time:

5:30 am.

That was certainly strange for the sky to turn so black when it was already time for sunrise. He shook his head and wore his watch, thinking that after that particular nightmare he would have preferred to stay up until breakfast instead.

Snake opened his door and was surprised to discover that a branch of light was turned on through the hallway. Pondering that perhaps another Smasher was shaken awake by the storm, he walked in the direction of the stairs descending towards the lower level of the mansion, rubbing his temple with his hand in the process.

Snake never liked this mansion and the habitants that inhabit it. He had met the strangest creatures he had ever seen at this place and had prayed frequently that he would not see more. The angle, Pit or whatever his name was, was odd enough for him already, but Pokemons and that round, odd pink fluff? _Too much_. It was like watching animals sipping coffee while reading the paper. Samus, apparently, seemed to be the only one that Snake felt somewhat comfortable with, for she was, like him, entirely _human _and filled with mechanic wonders instead of flashing magic lights and fairy powder.

But eventually, things leveled out and he gradually got used to the bizarreness. Of course, he had always preferred living in his own headquarters, where mechanic gadgets were seen around almost everywhere and that all he came across were his human friends. He _was_ relieved to see that this place wasn't entirely made out of sticks and wood like some fragile-looking tree house, but with rather high-tech facilities, even though it didn't show it in the mansion itself. The Smash Stages were a good example, but those were probably the only facilities he liked around here.

When he approached the living room, he wasn't surprised to see a few Smashers gathered up around the couches and floors, some of them reading a book (while trying to ignore the cracking thunder), their light source provided by a lit lamp on a small table. Others were simply doing whatever they were doing.

The reading lamps seemed to be the only light source of the living room, so the area looked dim, yet bright enough for one to look around. The room was relatively quiet, in respect for those who were still sleeping upstairs (not that it made a difference even if they threw a party, for the storm would obviously be louder).

"Oh look, it's the ninth victim," the voice of Falco drifted over to Snake, who lifted his head up and blinked. The pilot was sitting on the carpet and leaning against the foot of the sofa, polishing his gun. His companion, Fox, was sitting somewhere beside him, also polishing his gun. The fox looked up at Snake and nodded his head towards the raging window, "Woken up by the storm as well?"

"...Sort of," Snake wasn't about to tell them his nightmare, of course. Everyone thought he was hard-core and fearless, and he hoped to keep it that way. He walked over to the counter, where a coffee machine was situated, and made himself a cup of hot, steaming coffee.

He walked over to a table and sat down, facing the window and the pounding rain outside. Upon looking at the discouraging weather, Snake turned his head away instead. The storm reminded him of his unbearable nightmare and he certainly didn't want to think about it again.

Beep. Beep, beep...beep, beep, beep...

That sound...?

A familiar feeling crept up on the mercenary as his eyes shifted towards his left. Just as he thought, the sound came from a modern day cell phone. It seems the boy Ness was playing with it, his thumb pressing furiously on the small square keys. The Pokemon Trainer was sitting beside him, peering at the lit screen in order to take a good look at what the boy was doing.

"This looks so familiar," The Trainer blinked, rubbing his chin, his eyes still glued to the screen, "I remember this game is like hide and seek or something..."

Ness smiled up at him with his oval black eyes, "Yeah, it's been quite popular these days, every kid I know who has a cell phone plays this game—"

Snake's whole body tensed right up and his hand tightened on the mug he was holding on to, even though he wasn't aware of doing so.

The Pokemon Trainer blinked with realization, "Oh yes, I remember now! The game's objective is to find out who's the _lying wolf_ among the _rabbits_!—"

_...Shit...!_

The mercenary was staring onto the table, unable to move. An icy chill slithered down his spine. The unbearable nightmare that had previously awakened him swam slowly forward in front of his mind. He shut his eyes tight, trying to refuse the truth.

..._Shit, it has to be coincidence......it has to be!_

"— Yeah, the lying wolf," nodded Ness as he giggled at the flashing screen, "My friend is always the wolf, and he always likes to eat me first, because I'm usually the first one to figure out that he is the culprit."

"Hmm, really," The Pokemon Trainer smiled, in a curious way. A short sentence flashed into the upper corner of the screen, and he peered in even more, laughing, "Hey! Isn't this the catch phrase? '_The liar must die._' Builds up tension quite a bit, doesn't it?—"

_Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!_

"But dammit..." The Trainer frowned a bit as he banged his fist into his palm, "Such a popular game, yet it's been such a long time that I forgot the actual title—"

Ness lifted his eyes from the illuminated screen, giving the Trainer a happy grin,

"It's called Rabbit Doubt."

There was a loud clatter as the chair Snake was sitting on was knocked back onto the floor. Everyone looked up, quite startled by the noise and all eyes shifted towards the one who caused it.

Snake was staring down motionlessly at nothing but the cell phone still clenched in Ness' hand. He could feel his heart pounding very loudly from inside him and his breathing was quick and rasp.

"Snake...? Are you okay?" It was Link who spoke as he stood up from his own chair, still in his sleeping clothes. Although his voice was relatively soft compared to most of the male inhabitants in the mansion, Snake could hear him just fine. He blinked, still panting, and lifted his head up a bit so that it was level with Link's.

Perhaps it was the clear blue eyes of the Hylian that brought Snake back into reality, for the mercenary blinked again, relatively dazed, and held his hand up to his forehead. It felt warm and wet compared to his icy cold fingers.

He was sweating again.

"I...I was..." It was officially the first time that the Smashers heard Snake stutter. They stared at him more than ever, not daring to say anything until the mercenary makes an actual reply. Snake grinded his teeth furiously and turned away, feeling rather humiliated. Finally, he hissed quietly, "...It's nothing."

"Don't lie, Snake. Of course something is going on," Fox also stood up from his sitting position and was about to walk towards him when Snake whipped his head around and gave him a menacing glare, causing the fox to stop abruptly at his tracks, "_I said it was noth—_"

"It has something to do with Ness' cell phone game, doesn't it?" Link cut him off loudly.

It stung like needles upon hearing the horrible truth. The mercenary growled angrily and was about to shout at the Hylian when he forcefully stopped himself from doing so. Nevertheless, his eyes were still narrowed, eternally loathing Link for uncovering his fear.

But how could a simple game, a simple nightmare that didn't mean anything, scare Snake so much that he even overreacted to something equally retarded to hide-and-seek? Yes, "Rabbit Doubt", or whatever the_ hell_ it was called, was just some sort of child play...a stupid game designed for people who had too much time in their hands. Even if the game was the main issue that haunted his dream, it didn't mean anything...maybe the disturbing scenes he saw were just a combination of his past memories...it wasn't important...

"Huh? My cell phone?" Ness asked in confusion, pointing uncertainly at the device in his hand. He turned to Snake, who had his eyes closed tightly and was slightly shaking his head. The boy asked quietly, afraid that the mercenary might attack him any moment if he used the wrong wording, "Uh...Is-is there anything wrong with...with this game?"

There was a long pause. It had certainly taken a while for Snake to face Ness, but when he did, his serious amber eyes were locked firmly on the nervous kid. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it, uncertain of how he was going to phrase his words. He then slowly opened his mouth again and finally said, pointing straight at the cell phone, "...Kid, just promise me to drop that game. You got that?"

Ness blinked, bewildered for a moment, "...Why?"

_Argh, why are kids so rebellious these days?_

"I mean it. Just don't play it, and delete it or throw that damn thing away or however you want to get rid of it."

"But you didn't even tell me why—"

"_Look!_ Just get that damned game—"

"_BUT WHY?_ It's not like it can actually kill—"

"_I SAID JUST FREAKING GET RID OF IT!!!_"

He practically screamed out the command. Ness was speechless, standing there rooted to the spot like a statue. He tried to open his mouth to speak but no words came out, and his eyes were staring fearfully at Snake, whose hand was slammed onto the table and his breathing was loud and heavy. Ness watched as Snake's fingers clawed on the wooden surface until they turned white and his whole hand trembled slightly. He certainly looked like someone who was about to launch a killing spree.

"_Snake! _What the_ hell_ is wrong with you?!" Fox barked angrily as he stomped a few steps towards Snake and glared up at the tall man. Snake gritted his teeth and turned away, feeling furious with the rest of the crowd along with himself as well.

Why can't they just _shut the hell up_ and take his warning as a sign of impending danger? Why can't they just accept what they'd heard and leave him alone? Then again, he was the one who kept refusing to tell them the truth behind all this, and perhaps it was reasonable for the Smashers to be mad at him for yelling at a kid who didn't do anything...

However, self dignity drove Snake towards the door at the end of the room and as he wrenched it open, he growled, "Whatever. Ignore what I said and do as you wish." The door slammed shut behind him, the rhythmic sound of heavy footsteps gradually fading until they disappeared completely from the hallways.

The Pokemon Trainer placed his hand on Ness' shoulder, giving him some comfort, but Ness' was still staring at the door with a discouraged look on his face. Marth, Falco, and Peach, who had remained completely silent through the upsetting event, stood from whatever they were sitting on and went toward the boy as well.

"...Do you feel suspicious?" Marth turned to Falco and Fox and asked quietly, while Peach went forward to comfort Ness. Fox gave a frustrated snort and shook his head, sighing, "I think I know what you mean."

"It occurs to me as odd how Snake's response was somewhat uncertain when we asked him about the storm," Falco said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking from the slightly reassured Ness to the closed door, "Do you think that he was actually woken up by things _other_ than thunder?"

"There is a high chance," said Marth, also looking at the door, "I've been glancing at his direction ever since he came into the room, simply because he doesn't seem to be the kind of person who would just come down here and join us at a time like this."

"You guys might've noticed as well," Link came up to them, but his eyes were fixed on Ness' cell phone, "that he tensed right up upon hearing Ness' conversation with the Pokemon Trainer— about that game called 'Rabbit Doubt'."

Apparently Falco and Fox didn't notice this fact for they gasped "So that's why he was telling Ness not to play it!", while Marth turned around hurriedly and approached the boy. Ness looked up and smiled slightly at him. He seemed to be feeling a lot better.

"You all right?" asked Marth, returning the smile. Ness nodded and looked down at his cell phone. The prince noticed that Ness' expression changed into one of sadness, and the boy sighed, "I know Snake didn't really mean to yell at me like that...I bet he was really serious when he told me not to play with this anymore."

Peach placed her hands on her hips, her big blue eyes looking rather troubled as she mused, "I really don't get him though. How can he be _so_ paranoid over a mere game?" she then leaned down and smiled warmly at Ness, "don't worry, Ness, I'm sure everything will turn out fine." The mushroom princess gave a small pat on Ness' shoulder and left the living room, proceeding back to the silent sleeping quarters.

Is everything really going to be all right...?

Ness held up his cell phone and frowned slightly at the screen. A 2D hanged rabbit was seen dangling in it, a small tickle of blood dripping down from its jagged mouth and at the corner of its left eye. On either side of the poor creature were the words "Rabbit Doubt". If he had remembered correctly, Snake had jumped up from his chair upon hearing the title of the game.

The boy frowned deeper. The rabbit seemed to be staring back at him with bloodied, beady black eyes, as though daring Ness to delete the game and forget about it from then on. The longer the boy stared into the screen, the creepier he felt.

This was really odd. Why didn't he feel disgusted before when he set eyes on the hanged rabbit? Wouldn't the mere image of such cruelty be enough to make him back away from the game and refuse to play it even if his friends ask him to? Furthermore, whenever an announcement was made that the wolf had eaten a player, the displaying screen wasn't something Ness was particularly fond of:

It features a torn, bloodied rabbit hanging limply from the wolf's sharp teeth, its eyes looking very hollow and dead. The wolf was grinning with glowing eyes, and there would usually have a short caption at the bottom of the screen— 'One rabbit eliminated.'

Ness was often teased for being an anti-blood-and-gore goody goody, yet how he had come to accept the game was a mystery he didn't think he would ever be able to solve.

This totally creeped him out.

He took one last look at the ominous rabbit and closed the lid of his phone with a light snap. His hand, however, stayed on the closed lid and only with a reluctant little jerk was he able to let go of the phone and store it back in his pants pocket.

He turned himself around, only to find that he was being stared at by Marth. The prince eyed the pocket suspiciously, "So, that's the infamous Rabbit Doubt?" Ness sighed, "Yes it is, Marth. If it wasn't for Snake I may still be playing with it right now."

Marth raised an eyebrow, "And you're implying that...?"

To his surprise, Ness grinned up at him, and his eyes were once again filled with spirit, "Well, I'm glad that Snake stopped me from playing it. Somehow...I feel that...well, I feel more...refreshed, as though something that isn't meant to be inside me has finally left for good."

-------------------------------- ----------------------------- ---------------------------- ------------

The sun finally allowed itself to shine a little through the thick, foggy clouds by the time the clock struck eight, yet all it did was lighten the land by a very small fraction. The birds and various small animals took this as a gloomy sign and refused to come out in to the wild, preferring to stay inside their cozy bark-made homes instead. Heavy rain was still hammering down onto the earth, and onto the stone and glass of the windows of the Smash mansion.

Perhaps the gloomy sky was the reason why Pikachu didn't hear birds sing today as he darted eagerly through the windowed hallways and into the massive dining hall, craving very much for breakfast.

Suddenly a blue ball of light sped pass right beside him, and Pikachu let out a squeal of surprise. Upon hearing the squeal the blue figure braked immediately, his feet scraping forcefully on the hard stone floor and causing it to smoke. Sonic had dragged himself five meters across the rest of the hall before he could fully com to a halt.

Pikachu coughed at the risen dust and sneezed, causing Sonic to laugh and wave at the bewildered Pokemon, "Haha, sorry about that, Pikachu! Perhaps I should really go slower next time!" Pikachu responded with hard nods of its head, all the while accusing Sonic for not watching out for where he was going.

The two of them finally arrived at the dining hall. Despite the discouraging weather outside, with occasional wind and rain beating furiously on the windows, the hall was alive with laugher and activity. Sonic and Pikachu both inhaled a lungful of delicious smell, and with an energetic wave of his hand, Sonic bid good bye to the mouse-like Pokemon and zoomed himself towards the tables.

Pikachu proceeded by bounding down the stairs, eager to join in with the other Smashers as the tempting smell of food drifted through the air. Then a particular smell caught his snout. He sniffed, and discovered that the alluring scent of scramble eggs had come from not too far away from where he was. Pikachu let out an excited gasp and scuffled towards the food counter, making sure not to knock people over as he zigzagged towards his destination.

Just when his paws were a centimeter from reaching the scramble eggs of his dreams, a rough hand grabbed hold of his lighting-shaped tail and jerked Pikachu back onto the ground.

Pikachu wiggled and thrashed, squealing and demanding whoever was grabbing him to let go. Suddenly the Pokemon felt himself daggling violently in the air. He let out another angry hiss before he turned his head around and came face to face with Wolf.

The Pokemon froze, and his voice was immediately reduced into a small whimper.

"Hello there, Pokemon. I see that you still haven't learned your lesson, have you?" Judging by the tone Wolf used to address the Pokemon, it was clear that he was angry.

Pikachu shook his head frantically, wishing that he was anywhere but here. A soft tap on the shoulder caused Wolf turn around to face the person who had interrupted him, and his gaze leveled with Princess Zelda's. Wolf doubled-back in surprise. He had actually expected Fox standing behind him instead of the elegant Princess of Hyrule.

"May I ask what has happened over here?" The Princess's mouth curved into a small smile but her gaze was fierce.

Wolf tried to speak but remained silent for a few seconds. Pikachu was wiggling upside down and pleading for Zelda to help.

"Well, this mouse has been tripping people up where ever it went, and I being one of them," Wolf growled and fixed Pikachu a dislikable gaze, "He doesn't seem to have eyes now, does he?" His fist shook and Pikachu found himself swinging violently from side to side.

"Put him down," ordered Zelda sternly, but when Wolf made no move of doing so she raised her hand in front of Pikachu and the Pokemon was instantly surrounded by a transparent blue sphere. Wolf's eyes widened in surprised upon releasing Pikachu's tail and the Pokemon was soon safely transported back to the ground.

Seeing the furiousness on Wolf's features, Zelda's voice returned to its usual tone and she smiled once again, "Have you ever considered that Pikachu's one of the smallest and shortest Smasher's around this mansion? Providing that he can't fly, his only choice of transport is to walk on the ground."

"But since he's so small and fast even we'd have trouble trying to avoid him!" Wolf snarled. "But isn't _he_ the one who's mostly avoiding people's feet instead of you avoiding him?" Zelda questioned again, this time taking a look at the grateful Pikachu, who was by now nodding in agreement, "Furthermore, you're one of the stronger Smashers around here, Wolf, your reflexes are supposed to be good."

Is that woman questioning my strength? Wolf felt anger bubble inside him and he snapped, "How dare you—!"

Pikachu let out a painful shriek and jumped into the air. Wolf and Zelda were interrupted from their argument and turned their heads around, only to discover that Link was standing right beside Zelda and was apologizing frantically to the squealing Pikachu, who was holding his reddened tail while it throbbed with pain.

Wolf let out a huge smirk, happy that he had indirectly made his point, "See? Even the Hylian fails to spot Pikachu on the ground!"

Zelda sighed and turned to the guilty-looking Link, whom Pikachu was now irritated at. Link caught her staring at himself and quickly straightened up, his apologetic expression immediately switched into one of concern, "Zelda, the stages. It happened again."

Zelda's brows creased as she slowly said, "...How many times this month?"

"Including this one, twenty," replied Link gloomily, "In fact, the stages malfunctioned every single time ever since the multi-player Brawl between Samus, Yoshi, Pit, and Lucas."

"Che, no wonder so many matches are delayed in this month," Wolf was growling and rubbing his chin; he had completely forgotten the issue with Pikachu already, "My match with Donkey Kong was supposed to be held tomorrow, but it was then re-scheduled for next week."

Zelda turned around and started to look for Master Hand, who was not seen among the people in the dining hall and was probably still locking himself inside his study. Link attempted to follow but Zelda motioned him to stay.

The commander and the Hylian watched the princess take her leave through the huge oak doors that led to the main hallways. "It is really suspicious," said Link quietly.

"You're not the only one who thinks so, kid. Almost half the inhabitants are worried about those damn glitches," Wolf shook his head and, with a departing glace with Link, proceeded back to one of the nearby tables.

Link looked down to the ground, yet Pikachu was nowhere to be seen.

The oak door slammed violently open. Everyone whipped their heads around, quite startled at the sudden appearance of Master Hand floating towards them, with Zelda following, looking slightly nervous, from behind. Link found Zelda's expression relatively unusual but waved her over nevertheless.

The moment Zelda approached Link, she sighed helplessly, "Perhaps I shouldn't have disturbed him when he was already so busy and frustrated, now he looks like he's going to explode any minute." She took a glance at Master Hand, who was now positioning himself in front of all of the Smashers.

"So even he thinks that something's odd?" asked Link.

Zelda was about to reply, but her voice was drowned out by Master Hand's booming one, "I've come to announce that the battle stages are officially confirmed as unusable, due to multiple breakdowns that have occurred for the past three weeks—"

"It's because-a you're too reluctant to waste your-a money on maintenance!" Mario voiced himself through the crowed, and somewhere in the corner Samus smiled while others cheered for Mario's explanation.

If Master Hand had a face, everyone would've seen him flush. "_It is not like that, Mario_," he managed to keep himself calm but his voice, nevertheless, still contained an edge to it, "Even _if_ we did call for maintenance, it'll take quite a long time before all systems are fully renewed. Our main problem now is the fact that we do not have spare stages to continue our battle—"

"You still haven't-a answered us: so _are_ you going to-a call for maintenance?" Mario's voice rang out again and the entire hall apart from Master Hand laughed.

"_YES_, I am!" Master Hand had finally lost what remaining patience he had with Mario and bellowed heatedly at the plumber, who was now sighing in relief and shaking his head while the rest of the Smashers laughed and cheered.

"Be quiet for a moment!" Master Hand shouted over the voices of the crowed, which died eventually as the people concentrated on what the floating hand was about to say.

"As I was _saying_," Master Hand coughed, looking accusing at Mario, "The stages are unavailable at the moment, thus, I have decided to call up an ally of mine for help. Apparently, he claimed that he has some spare stages back in his own planet and is extremely happy to lend them to us."

"But I bet he isn't willing to transport them to this mansion, am I right?" Captain Falcon crossed his arms and said. Apart from his six-sense, he had no idea how he knew this.

"...That is correct," replied the floating hand, wondering how in the world the Captain had guessed.

The Ice Climbers jumped up and down with their gloved hand raised high up into the air. "Wait a second, wait a second!" exclaimed Popo. "Wouldn't that mean that we would have to travel _there_ instead?" asked Nana in her childish voice, evidently unwilling to leave this mansion behind.

"That's right," Master Hand said, "But you won't have to stay overnight. After all, his stages are only meant for battle, and there aren't any housing facilities for you to live in." The Ice Climbers let out a sigh of relief. However, Meta Knight shook his head disapprovingly and muttered, "So does that mean we have to waste several hours just to get there and several more to come back?"

Apparently Luigi overheard him, for he said cheerfully, "Well-a, at-a least it is better than-a nothing, right?" This time Meta Knight remained quiet, even though it was evident that he was still unhappy.

Samus, now out of her suit, stood silently at the far corner of the room, leaning against the wall and observing at whatever was going on at the front. A lot of Smashers seemed to be unsatisfied with Master Hand's procedure and were shooting up question after question, eventually causing the frustrated hand to shout '_Be quiet! This is final!_' and zoom out of the room with such astonishing inhuman speed that Samus could even feel her blonde hair flutter as the hand whizzed pass.

He sure has no sense of responsibility, Samus thought, shaking her head and glancing out the rain-streaked window. A misty sheet of fog seemed to have drifted across from faraway and had somehow ended up lingering at the foot of the mansion. The bounty hunter couldn't see a thing out there set aside the disconnected, blurry tree-shapes.

She never liked fogs. It reminded her of how horrible it feels when you are alone and completely lost.

------------------------------- -------------------------- ----------------------------- ---------------

There was a glass of clear red blood on the table. She pinched her fingers on the rim and lifted the whole thing up, causing the glass to tip and spill some of the crimson liquid onto the floor.

She lifted it up higher, above her head, and then pressured one of her two fingers on the rim of the crystal-clear goblet so that it tipped even more and the blood splattered flawlessly down into her wide open mouth, staining everything from her face to her snowy white dress with flying scarlet.

She licked her mouth rudely with her tongue, smudging her chin and cheeks with even more blood. She then wiped her face with her frilly sleeve.

"Even vampires drink politer than you do," he pointed out, causing her to open her mouth and stuck out her tongue at him. "Hee hee, But I'm not one!" her lips split into one of the widest grins he had ever seen.

"Well, just clean up the mess afterwards," he said, leaning back on his sofa, slowly swirling his glass of wine in his hands and he held it against the light so that it glinted beautifully.

"They can clean it up," she said, getting up from her seat and ignoring her dripping dress, "I'm hungry."

"Isn't drinking 3 glasses of blood enough for you already?" he asked again, shaking his head. "But my appetite is nowhere near compared to him," she replied, skipping carelessly to the door.

"You have a point," he said, and drained his wine. He sat the glass down and looked at the bloody mess she had created, "Say, do you really love blood that much?"

"_Nooooo—_" she stretched the syllables for eternity and beamed, showing her blood-stained teeth, "It's just because whenever I taste blood, I taste their fear."

"The blood's fear?" he looked up from his paper.

"_Ha_, not blood._ Them_," she let out a short, quick laugh and walked elegantly out of the room, her hair swaying slightly with the breeze.

---------------- ----------------------------- --------------------------- ----------------------- -----

Er, cliffhanger you say? Yeah, maybe.


End file.
